Inside The Bills

It sounds as if EJ Manuel stands a very good chance of returning to the lineup Sunday in Pittsburgh, but head coach Doug Marrone isn’t ready to make it a definite. He wants to see how Manuel performs in practice this week. Having a four-game layoff Buffalo’s head coach would naturally like to see him get as many reps as possible. He also wants to be certain that he’s physically sound to play his game.

“In the back of my mind I’m thinking he needs to be 110 percent and not put a player out there who could jeopardize himself,” said Marrone.

Marrone explained that now that the team doctors have cleared Manuel to play it’s in the coaching staff’s hands to make the ultimate decision as to whether Manuel will play Sunday at Pittsburgh.

“Really the process goes like this. We can never tell a player he’s got to go in there,” Marrone said. “The doctors make that decision and they tell you if the player is ready to go in and play or not. Once the doctor says he can go in and play then it comes on us. Whether he can go out there and do that or not.

“From an injury standpoint the player may be at a position where he’s not going to re-injure himself or do greater harm to himself. So then it comes to us as coaches and see what the mindset of the player is, how he feels about playing again. Is he ready to go? Has he had enough reps to be accountable for what we want him to do? It comes on us and that’s what you look forward to. You look forward to putting the decision on us because before that you can’t do anything.”